Wednesday, September 3, 2008

OS-pagan

This begins with Windows Vista. I don't like it. It's not the embodiment of all that is evil in the world, but it has several annoying problems that I find myself unable to fix. Simple things like not being able to transfer large blocks of files from a flash drive to the hard drive or vice versa. It just sits there for hours, if I let it, trying to decide how long it will take to transfer the files rather than just transferring them. I've tried patches, suggested updates from forums, etc. Nothing seems to work. Add in the fact that, while I haven't yet had a Blue Screen of Death, the OS does just lock up from time to time, and I couldn't take it anymore.

I switched to Linux at home a few months ago. Linux Mint, to be specific (no, I'm not asking for a debate over the relative merits of different linux distributions...I don't have an internet connection at home, and Linux Mint came with the drivers that would allow me to play mp3s, watch DVDs, etc, without downloading anything new). I dual-boot, meaning I can still use Windows Vista if need be (say, to sync my iPod Touch), but the computer loads up Linux by default.

When I'm at Texas A&M, I alternately use Windows and Mac computers. Vista is installed on the SmartPodium in the classroom in which I teach. The English Department has XP and Mac OSX on computers in our two labs. In my office, there's a somewhat creaky PC running Windows 2000. This is all a long way of saying that I use "all three" operating systems in various configurations/versions.

I keep seeing this called "OS agnostic." People who switch freely among Windows, Mac, and Linux refer to themselves this way.

WTF?

I know there's variation within agnosticism, but whatever you are doing with three operating systems, it's not agnostic. You don't question that there's a possibility of an OS. You don't question whether or not humans can know the identity of the OS.

What you are is poly-OS. Or perhaps OS-pagan-with-particular-reference-to-the-cosmopolitan-paganism-of- Rome. Or even straight-up humanist (kidding about the last one...maybe). You know about all three operating systems and simply don't prefer one over the other as an end-all-be-all. That's not agnosticism in any sense of the word.